8.8-beta-1 Released

[neil9000]

Just now, Jason Carr said:

I think he meant something different Neil.

Appologies, i thought he was saying not to load in the box image and such as its going to be in the game details screen anyway.

[Jason Carr]

Beta 6 is out now with a workaround/fix for a dreadful Windows Explorer bug in the upcoming Windows 10 October release. It was happening when clicking the Add Files button in the Import Games from Files wizard, and Windows Explorer just basically dies. Sometimes you even have to restart the machine.

So anyways, now I've got the situation where I need to rush an official release out, because when that update for Windows 10 drops (and I have no idea the exact day when it will, but it's supposed to be within the first couple of weeks of October), users will be up in arms if they don't have the fix. I'm currently torn between releasing everything in these betas and rushing it out, or setting everything aside and releasing a new version with only the fix for that bug.

So that being said, I would really appreciate if you guys can beat this beta up, as I'm thinking it could be a release candidate for this rushed release, and it might come out before the end of the week (especially if Microsoft ends up dropping the October update). Please let me know if anyone is seeing any stability issues with the last few betas.

[ZeSystem]

8 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

This is currently done on purpose to keep the experience smooth, rather than create a jarring jump in frames. I think if you turn transitions off it would be a non-issue. But the point of transitions of course is to smooth out the experience.

I understand, but hear me out. If you select a game before the game media transitions, though, the opening of the menu (i.e. another page) already has its own transition effect so it look smooth regardless.

I'm talking about the transition of the game media videos and images moving (or fading depending on what the user selected). It just seems less snappy and unnecessary to play the animations when we're going to be seeing on the next page again, which already has its own transition.

Currently, [Input: Move up and select immediately]
On Game 1. Moving to "Game 2", BigBox plays transition effect of game media from Game 1 to Game 2, waits for that to end plays another transition effect of the menu (a new page) -> displays Game 2 info and media.

Proposed, [With same input]
On Game 1. Moving to "Game 2", BigBox plays transition effect of game media from Game 1 to Game 2 (to make it look smooth, if you wish), but does not wait for it to end and immediately plays another transition effect of the menu (a new page) -> displays Game 2 info and media.

 

13 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Not everyone uses the game details view though, i dont. So i would want that loading there always.

No offense, but you're a moderator. Did you even read what I wrote?

[Lordmonkus]

4 minutes ago, ZeSystem said:

No offense, but you're a moderator. Did you even read what I wrote?

Take it easy, he misread and it was an honest mistake.

[Jason Carr]

6 minutes ago, ZeSystem said:

I understand, but hear me out. If you select a game before the game media transitions, though, the opening of the menu (i.e. another page) already has its own transition effect so it look smooth regardless.

I'm talking about the transition of the game media videos and images moving (or fading depending on what the user selected). It just seems less snappy and unnecessary to play the animations when we're going to be seeing on the next page again, which already has its own transition.

Currently, [Input: Move up and select immediately]
On Game 1. Moving to "Game 2", BigBox plays transition effect of game media from Game 1 to Game 2, waits for that to end plays another transition effect of the menu (a new page) -> displays Game 2 info and media.

Proposed, [With same input]
On Game 1. Moving to "Game 2", BigBox plays transition effect of game media from Game 1 to Game 2 (to make it look smooth, if you wish), but does not wait for it to end and immediately plays another transition effect of the menu (a new page) -> displays Game 2 info and media.

 

No offense, but you're a moderator. Did you even read what I wrote?

Yes, I know exactly what you're saying. The issue isn't that the transition couldn't be made smoothly, but rather that the current codebase hitches if you forcefully skip transitions that are currently in process. Of course this could be fixed/improved, as always, but it's not an easy thing to fix. So this is just one of those "would be nice to have" things that will probably be on the backburner for a while, because there's just a lot more important stuff to tackle and improve, and the immense effort required isn't currently worth the end result.

6 minutes ago, ZeSystem said:

No offense, but you're a moderator. Did you even read what I wrote?

Well that was kind of rude...honestly, I understand where he was coming from. It wasn't an easy concept to grasp.

[ZeSystem]

Just now, Jason Carr said:

Yes, I know exactly what you're saying. The issue isn't that the transition couldn't be made smoothly, but rather that the current codebase hitches if you forcefully skip transitions that are currently in process. Of course this could be fixed/improved, as always, but it's not an easy thing to fix. So this is just one of those "would be nice to have" things that will probably be on the backburner for a while, because there's just a lot more important stuff to tackle and improve, and the immense effort required isn't currently worth the end result.

Well that was kind of rude...honestly, I understand where he was coming from. It wasn't an easy concept to grasp.

If the current codebase can't handle it, that's fine too. We got more important stuff to worry about. I was suggesting it in case that's possible. If any other features in the future eventually tackle on the issue, I hope you can add that change some day.

Regarding that "rude" response. He was the one who dismissed my problem by "misreading" my short paragraph, as a moderator, for that matter. Do you not consider that as rude?
Well, regardless I apologize if I came across being rude, but it just really seems the moderators tend to always dismiss problems or suggestions the users have because they don't agree with it or have no problems with it. I've been meaning to say this for awhile now and it got me really frustrated. To top that, he didn't even read it properly and just basically said "no" in a polite way. I'll end it here because it's not a place to talk about it, but I really wanted to voice my concern briefly before it's too late.

 

[Jason Carr]

5 minutes ago, ZeSystem said:

If the current codebase can't handle it, that's fine too. We got more important stuff to worry about. I was suggesting it in case that's possible. If any other features in the future eventually tackle on the issue, I hope you can add that change some day.

Regarding that "rude" response. He was the one who dismissed my problem by "misreading" my short paragraph, as a moderator, for that matter. Do you not consider that as rude?
Well, regardless I apologize if I came across being rude, but it just really seems the moderators tend to always dismiss problems or suggestions the users have because they don't agree with it or have no problems with it. I've been meaning to say this for awhile now and it got me really frustrated. To top that, he didn't even read it properly and just basically said "no" in a polite way. I'll end it here because it's not a place to talk about it, but I really wanted to voice my concern briefly before it's too late.

  

I get you. I just think overall we all need to just give people the benefit of the doubt, for heaven's sake. There's a big difference between malicious activity and an honest mistake.

[ZeSystem]

1 minute ago, Jason Carr said:

I get you. I just think overall we all need to just give people the benefit of the doubt, for heaven's sake. There's a big difference between malicious activity and an honest mistake.

Yeah, it's hard to get your voice heard when a moderator with a standing out red font start misreading it. This could give anyone a wrong impression of what I suggested and derail it or get pushed back by new threads.
Plus, I just read the previous post he made that he misread. It's all good.

33 minutes ago, Jason Carr said:

Beta 6 is out now with a workaround/fix for a dreadful Windows Explorer bug in the upcoming Windows 10 October release. It was happening when clicking the Add Files button in the Import Games from Files wizard, and Windows Explorer just basically dies. Sometimes you even have to restart the machine.

Back to the topic. Is there any post online regarding this issue? I'd like to discuss this with members of other Windows-10 focused communities and get some light on it.

[ZeSystem]

Just now, keltoigael said:

No one is silencing anyone's voice. I think it is time to put on some adult glasses and realize if a post is deleted it is because it violates any given rule you agreed to when you signed up to use the forums. We will not tolerate any ads directly linking to illegal methods of selling roms or any other form for that matter. Stop believing everything you hear on the internet. We have seen a huge influx of trolls and flat out lies as of late trying to swing the public against LB mod team for w/e reason. We have had a few individuals leave the forums butt hurt because they broken the rules and was banned because of it. The End.

See, I'm already ganged up by two other moderators when their involvement was not necessary at all. It's so hard to point out a problem in this forum where the moderators hold the power and just oppose everything.
Who said anything about reading something on internet? What is this ROM sharing about? What trolls? Slicing anyone's voice, what? I never said anything about it. I have not read anything about LB mod team or LB outside this forum. I don't know what part of community you're in, but this is the first time hearing about LB mod drama, but perhaps not all of them are "lies" because I do agree if they said anything about what I said earlier on the LB forum moderators.

You also must misunderstood what I said. When a moderator misreads my suggestion, and marks himself as one of the "them" (users who do not use game details view, in this case) it's easy for others to look at that, and misunderstand my suggestion completely, which can derail it, or eventually cause it to just get buried because my original suggestion is all the way back.

Now I'm going to get pointed at for "going off-topic", but how can I not retaliate on stuff like this? This is one of the many things I wanted to talk about regarding LB moderators. Thanks for proving my point.

[Porl Hendy]

I think he got you mixed up with someone else.

Anyway can we not stick to the topic and maybe deal with this through private messages or something. I am all for a bit of banter in the forum but this isnt banter lol

[LogicalEgo]

@ZeSystem

That was my mistake. Which is why I removed the post. It is nothing against you at all. Apologies.

[Jason Carr]

Apologies, we've been on edge because of having to deal with a lot of difficult feedback from various places as of late. Keltoi deleted that after he put it out. Personally, I thought it came out of nowhere.

Anyways, wow. I'm just tired of drama and I'm just trying to do the best that I can as the developer of this project.

[PattersonCZ]

@Jason Carr do you look at that bug when unique names show up in PLatform Category instead of Nested names ? Because i still have it. Take your time or did i do something wrong ? Thank you.

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by PattersonCZ

[Jason Carr]

Just now, PattersonCZ said:

@Jason Carr do you look at that bug when unique names show up in PLatform Category instead of Nested names ? Because i still have it. Take your time or did i do something wrong ? Thank you.

 

Ah yes, thanks for the reminder. I haven't looked into it yet.

[PattersonCZ]

No problem. Just please look at it when you have time. That one thing hold me from tidy up my collection.

[Bedwyr]

Hi guys. Random post. I reported a bug/partial-crash here: https://bitbucket.org/jasondavidcarr/launchbox/issues/4557/big-box-encounters-occasional-random

I'm leaving BB loaded for the moment and changing power settings to not put the PC to sleep. If anyone wants me to take any investigatory or troubleshooting steps, now's the time.

[MadK9]

3 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

Beta 6 is out now with a workaround/fix for a dreadful Windows Explorer bug in the upcoming Windows 10 October release. It was happening when clicking the Add Files button in the Import Games from Files wizard, and Windows Explorer just basically dies. Sometimes you even have to restart the machine.

So anyways, now I've got the situation where I need to rush an official release out, because when that update for Windows 10 drops (and I have no idea the exact day when it will, but it's supposed to be within the first couple of weeks of October), users will be up in arms if they don't have the fix. I'm currently torn between releasing everything in these betas and rushing it out, or setting everything aside and releasing a new version with only the fix for that bug.

So that being said, I would really appreciate if you guys can beat this beta up, as I'm thinking it could be a release candidate for this rushed release, and it might come out before the end of the week (especially if Microsoft ends up dropping the October update). Please let me know if anyone is seeing any stability issues with the last few betas.

Its live now, it installed here yesterday for me. So far i haven't had any issues with the new update and LB, added and removed systems as normal.

Edited October 4, 2018 by MadK9

[GreenGriffon]

I've also already received the big new October Win10 feature update, so I appreciate the quick fix in beta.

I won't touch my cabinet until the official release drops, because I don't opt into betas for that.

[dragon57]

The October Win10 update dropped on my dev machine. I did have strange Explorer issues, so many thanks for the quick beta.

[Jason Carr]

Beta 7 is out now with the following:

- Fixed a bug with nested names not always saving properly when adding a new platform category (should fix @PattersonCZ's issue)

- Playlists are no longer required to be in the platform categories list (you can uncheck all Parents in the Parents tab to make it only show up in the Playlists list)

- Things can no longer be nested under playlists, as that was unnecessary and was causing confusion and minor issues

My current plan is to beat the heck out of this beta as much as I can here on all my machines for the rest of the day, and if things go well (and I don't hear of any serious issues from you guys), I'll probably say a prayer and rush out the official release tomorrow (due to that Windows 10 bug).